Health care cause and effect

The issue:

"[A] health care proposal that would cut costs by allowing generic drugs to compete sooner with pricey biotechnology drugs . . . ."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2009-07-28-biologics_N.htm

The cause:

"Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., whose district is home to dozens of biotech companies, is sponsoring a similar measure. Drug company employees and political action committees have donated $645,000 since 1992 to Eshoo — second only to the computer and Internet industry. This year, she is the biggest recipient of pharmaceutical money in the House, the data show."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2009-07-28-biologics_N.htm

The effect:

"This month, a Senate committee approved 12 years of exclusivity. Attention shifts to the House, where a companion, 12-year bill sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., has 139 co-sponsors — compared with 14 lawmakers who back a competing measure that would allow generic competition after five years. Eshoo said she is working to incorporate her plan into the larger health care bill the House Energy and Commerce panel will consider when Congress returns in September."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2009-07-28-insidebiologics_N.htm?csp=34

In exchange for over $600,000 in donations, Eshoo's bill would insert a provision in the larger health care bill to guarantee that drug companies get 5 extra years of exclusivity, resulting in higher prices, higher costs and higher profits.

This is corruption, plain and simple.